This edition of the Infosecurity Magazine may have been the final of 2022 but, as the title’s new editor, it marks my first.
This year the team has seen some changes that you, our avid reader, may have picked up on. With that, I’m delighted to introduce you to myself and our new news reporter, Kevin Poireault, and congratulate James Coker on his promotion to deputy editor.
With our new editorial line-up in place, we are already looking to see what 2023 has in store and you’ll be sure to see us at events like the RSA Conference, Infosecurity Europe, BlackHat and more, so if you see the team, please do say hello! In the meantime, reach out on social media as we’d love to hear your thoughts on the latest trends and challenges in the information and cybersecurity world. It is an ever-evolving landscape and hearing from our expert community is how we stay informed.
Before looking too far into the future it would be remiss not to take stock of the year that was 2022.
At the end of September, Infosecurity Magazine held its second online summit of the year, which included 14 live sessions, a mix of panel debates, #HowTo sessions and keynote presentations. The topics across the two-day event ranged from addressing the cybersecurity skills gap to how to reassure customers about your security and privacy. Other notable sessions included debates on preparing your organization for quantum security and whether IoT devices can ever be secure.
One thing that stood out to me was that during these sessions COVID-19 was seldom mentioned. Just days before the Online Summit, President Biden made an off-the-cuff remark during a ’60 Minutes’ interview that the pandemic was over.
After discussing security challenges for two days during the Online Summit, it seems that the impact of COVID-19 on businesses is no longer a top concern; one ought to conclude that businesses have spent the last three years dealing with the remote/hybrid work phenomenon and have now had time to implement or begin implementing at least some of the security tools needed to protect a network that now looks very different than it did in 2019.
Now I’m not saying that the cybersecurity challenges brought on by COVID-19 no longer exist, but the issue has certainly moved on beyond the initial knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic.
A big issue continues to be the threat from nation-state actors, which was covered during our North America Online Summit day, including the heightened threat from Russia due to its ongoing war with Ukraine.
We have not seen a major critical national infrastructure (CNI) attack against a Western nation as some predicted after the beginning of the war in the Spring of 2022, and the conclusion of one panellist during the Online Summit was that Russia has not had the bandwidth to do so. We have, however, seen Russia target Ukraine’s government sites and CNI companies like DTEK Group – a private energy conglomerate – as a part of its campaign of war, but we’ve only seen limited instances when this has overspiled outside of the conflict zone, for example DDoS attacks in Estonia which were said to be of Russian origin.
Other nations have also been using cyber-attacks against their foes, for instance Iran’s targeting of Albanian government sites, including its border control system. The attacks came after Tirana cut all diplomatic ties with Iran following a July 15 ransomware attack that took multiple government services offline.
Finally, the global economic uncertainty all nations are facing will spell more challenges for those in the cybersecurity profession. As the demand to make a buck entices people into carrying out malicious activities or become more susceptible to threat actor’s manipulation, it will be a testing time for individuals and businesses alike.
While the above has painted rather a gloomy picture, I am confident that our community’s continued discussion and sharing of experience we are able to facilitate here at Infosecurity Magazine through our written work, digital events and in-person gatherings will go some way to inform, educate and allow both cybersecurity enthusiasts and novices to stay abreast of at least some of what’s going on. Most importantly, we hope it will inspire them to make innovative and pioneering leaps in the world of cybersecurity.
I am truly delighted to be heading up the editorial team and am looking forward to ways in which we can enhance the experience for our audience and continue to bring you the most important information about the cybersecurity industry.
With that, I bid adieu to 2022.